Activists from Fridays For Future Bangladesh and the Climate Justice Project – Fridays
For Future Japan, along with other FFF activists and NGOs across Asia and beyond, will launch
an international campaign to target Sumitomo Corporation and Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA) on January 28, 2022. Sumitomo and JICA are building the
Matarbari Coal-fired Power Plant in Bangladesh under the guise of international
cooperation, in the age of climate chaos. We will hold a webinar on January 28 to announce
the campaign. In the event, activists across Asia will give speeches as to why we need to fight
human rights abuses and environmental destruction brought by Japanese corporations and
JICA. In the event, we will open a petition page on Change.org Japan with signatories from
national/local FFF chapters and international NGOs to submit during the next Global Climate
Strike.

The Matarbari Coal-fired Power Plant Project in Bangladesh

The Matarbari Coal-fired Power Plant Project in Bangladesh is financed by the Japanese
government as Official Development Assistance (ODA). Sumitomo Corporation, a major trading
firm headquartered in Tokyo, won the bid for the construction. The coal project is not only
contrary to the global trend of decarbonization, but also causes environmental pollution that
would not be tolerated in Japan. It is expected to emit 21 times more sulfur dioxide and 10
times more lethal particles than the average new coal-fired power plant in Japan. In order to
obtain land for the power plant, local people lost their homes and jobs and could not receive
adequate compensation. More than 20,000 people who were involved in shrimp and salt
farming lost their jobs. The construction of the Matabari project blocked the drainage system
to deal with flooding, and in 2018, 21 villages were flooded and five children died. In addition,
seven children were seriously injured when their boat sank on its way to school.

The International Campaign #StopSumitomo to target Sumitomo and JICA

We are launching the international campaign to target Sumitomo and JICA to stop the
Matarbari Coal-fired Power Project within a year. This campaign, however, is not only about
fighting the coal power plant in Bangladesh, but it is also about fighting similar destructive
development projects by Japanese corporations and JICA across Asia. There are cases of
development projects by Sumitomo Group that degrade the environment, destroy livelihoods
of local people, and compromise democracy in the Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam, Indonesia,
and so on. Sumitomo has built and is building coal power plants not only in Bangladesh but
also in Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam. So, fighting Sumitomo and JICA, activists of
FFF Bangladesh and FFF Japan are trying to stop the Matarbari Coal-fired Power Plant, and,
moreover, build global solidarity to win climate justice in Asia and beyond.

Resource person

Kentaro Yamamoto (@K_Yamamoto97)
Organizer – Fridays For Future Japan &
Climate Justice Project FFF Japan